Thin Pinstriped Line

  Social media is rapidly becoming one of the most powerful and effective instruments of military power. This may sound hyperbolic but recent events have shown that in terms of ability to influence outcomes, deliver strategic effect and undermine morale and the opponents ability to operate effectively, then it is hard to argue that social media is probably the most effective weapon of war out there. Its effective use and the way it can be easily misused cuts to the heart of the debate around the values, standards and role of the modern British armed forces. The first way social media can be a challenge was in r ecent media coverage about the use of Strava and other run tracking activities at Faslane naval base. Apparently large numbers of forces personnel are recording their runs each day and uploading it to the site – this in turn could reportedly be seen as a threat to security of the site, by highlighting the running routes of people based there. On the one hand this is good ...

 Port visits are perhaps one of the most critical and important roles a warship can carry out. The act of entering another nations territory, bringing your own little space of national sovereignty with you, and engaging in meaningful dialogue, engagement and diplomacy is an ancient and time honoured way of using warships to carry out ‘soft power’. Many nations engage in port visits with their warships for a variety of reasons, but all see benefit in doing so. Unlike the deployment of aircraft or troops, a port visit is a fantastic diplomatic tool for showing support discretely while still sending a visible message. In a tense diplomatic environment, the deployment of aircraft or troops on exercises or joint operations can be seen as an escalation – it puts foreign nationals on another nations turf in a highly visible way, and reliant on that nation for support. Any exercise conducted requires that nations approval, and in turn requires them to approve access to logistics, moving in...

It has not been a good couple of weeks for the RAF, with several uncomfortable stories entering the public domain. From the state of the flying training system, to allegations about the ‘Red Arrows’ display team, there has been difficult coverage of the force and its activities. The most recent difficult story has been on diversity and whether the RAF has ‘stopped recruiting white men’ to join as part of efforts to raise the diversity of the force. An easy way to see internet debate explode is to chuck in the phrase ‘diversity’, then wait as people kick off with angry rants featuring phrases like ‘woke’, ‘political correctness gone mad’ and ‘when is international men’s day’ (19 th November apparently). People get very cross when they see efforts made to improve diversity and representation, particularly if they think that others are being seen off in the process. The specific issue here is that the RAF is allegedly pausing recruitment of white males and instead emphasising recru...

  The UK has published the latest iteration of its Maritime Security Strategy , the top level document which sets out how the British Government intends to deliver security in the maritime space. To some readers this will seem an obvious question with an obvious answer – namely ‘the Royal Navy’. Yet the reality is vastly different and much more complicated. That the foreword to the document was jointly co-signed by no less than 5 Cabinet Ministers, from the MOD, FCDO, Home Office, Defra and Dept for Transport shows just how complex this domain really is. It is hard to think of any other government policy document which has such a high level of cross departmental interest. What is the goal of this particular document and why does it matter so much? Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright At the risk of stating the obvious, the UK is an island nation and its food and fate is inextricably linked to the sea. From freighters providing a range of manufactured goods from the Far E...

  War is a brutal, bloody and very nasty business. It is about inflicting violence on others to terminate life, to inflict horrendous injuries and to gain control. It is the manifestation of humanity’s most base violent instincts and it is something that is never nice. There are rules of war and laws of war to try to control this, and restrain some of the worst behaviours, but it is not always possible. At times the conduct of total war for national survival requires difficult decisions to be made. The report by Amnesty International into Ukrainian activity, alleging that the Ukrainian armed forces may have broken international law is a report so tone-deaf, and so utterly inappropriate to have produced right now, that you must wonder whether its staff are paid agents of the Russian regime. This is the only possible explanation as to why people thought it was a good idea to produce a report right now suggesting that the heroic armed forces of Ukraine, who have rightly won plaudit...